Sitting Bull - Native American History - HISTORY.com Google Born in the Grand River Valley in what is now South Dakota , Sitting Bull, or Tatanka Yotanka, received early recognition from his tribe as a warrior and man of vision. During his youth he joined in the usual tribal raids for horses against traditional enemies such as the Crow and Assiniboin. Did You Know? The Lakota Sioux often used several names over the course of their lifetime. In his youth, Sitting Bull was known as "Jumping Badger." Because the Hunkpapa lived and hunted north of the early routes of western travel, Sitting Bull had little contact with whites until the Santee Sioux uprising in Minnesota in 1862. When the defeated Indians were driven west to the plains, he heard from them what life was like on a reservation. In July 1864, he was one of the defenders when Gen. Alfred Sully used artillery against a Teton encampment at Killdeer Mountain. It was during this period that Sitting Bull formed his resolve to keep his people away from the white man’s world and never to sign a treaty that would force them to live on a reservation.

With other Sioux leaders he soon took his followers to the pristine valleys of the Powder and Yellowstone rivers where buffalo and other game were abundant. He continually warned his followers that their survival as free Indians depended upon the buffalo. During this time, Red Cloud of the Oglala subtribe was the leader of the Tetons, but Sitting Bull’s influence as a holy man was steadily growing. Beginning in the summer of 1865 columns of U.S. soldiers repeatedly invaded the Powder River country. Sitting Bull had occasional encounters with them, learning their ways of fighting, their strengths and weaknesses. After Red Cloud signed the Fort Laramie treaty of 1868, and then agreed to live on a reservation, his influence waned. Sitting Bull’s disdain for treaties and reservation life soon attracted a large following not only from the Sioux but from the Cheyenne and Arapaho. In 1873, he and Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer skirmished briefly while Custer was guarding surveyors for the Northern Pacific Railroad in Montana Territory. Three years later they met again on the Little Bighorn in the battle that made both men famous.

Sitting Bull was not a war leader in that fight, but he had predicted that many soldiers would fall, and his followers believed that his magical powers had brought the victory. Although Sitting Bull survived, an aroused and vengeful army forced him to flee to Canada. In 1881 he returned to the United States, surrendered, and was held as a prisoner of war at Fort Randall, South Dakota Territory. After two years he was permitted to live on Standing Rock Reservation where he continued to use his influence to keep Sioux lands from being taken by the government. In 1885 he traveled for a season with Buffalo Bill Cody’s wild west show. The rise of the Ghost Dance, a tribal religion that proclaimed that all whites would disappear and dead Indians and buffalo would return, brought him into disfavor with government officials in 1890 because he made no effort to stop the dancing at Standing Rock. When Indian police were sent to arrest him on December 15, 1890, Sitting Bull was killed in a melee outside his cabin. The Reader’s Companion to American History. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors.

Copyright © 1991 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Tags Native History: Sitting Bull Shot By Indian Police, His Legacy Remains - Indian Country Media Network Sitting Bull was shot on December 15, 1890 at the age of 59, but his legacy lives on in his descendants. Native History: Sitting Bull Shot By Indian Police, His Legacy Remains Christina Rose • December 15, 2013 This Date in Native History: On December 15, 1890, Sitting Bull, known as Tatanka Iyotake, was killed along the Grand River, near his birthplace in the Many Caches area of South Dakota, still only accessible on horseback. He was 59 years old. To his people, Sitting Bull was known as a Sun Dancer, a spiritual leader who came from a long line of spiritual people. “Sitting Bull was a chief. He was a charismatic leader and war leader, and he won the following of his people,” said LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, Standing Rock.

She said many people have mistakenly called him a medicine man, but, “In reality he was a spiritual leader who gave of himself to pray for the people. He was a spiritual man, responsible for prayer.” Sitting Bull fought his first battle against the United States in 1863. “The Northern tribes were led by Sitting Bull and the Southern tribes were led by Crazy Horse,” Allard said. “They fought together against the United States Army.” When Sitting Bull reached middle age, Allard said it was his place to give directions to the younger warriors rather than fight. In June of 1876, just a week before the Battle of Little Big Horn, there was a Sun Dance in which Sitting Bull was said to have danced for 36 consecutive hours. There, he had a vision of a war victory. Just a few days after the vision, the Lakota won the Battle of Rosebud and just a week after that George Armstrong Custer was killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn. “The people from the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota and other tribes were gathered at Greasy Grass for the summer hunt,” Allard said. “It was a huge, huge camp.

Things were changing, the United States was demanding that people stay on the reservation, but they were all gathered in traditional hunting grounds, and nobody could tell us what to do.” Allard said there were so many people gathered at Greasy Grass, three-quarters of the men didn’t even go out and fight. “Sitting Bull went up to the hill and started praying,” she said. “He was at that age—he was not expected to fight. His job was to support and pray.” Accused by the United States as being the most fierce of the Plains warriors, Sitting Bull fought only to practice Lakota ways without interference. Ernie LaPointe is a great-grandson of Sitting Bull. “By kerosene lamp, my mother would tell stories of her grandfather. She never used his name, she told me names are wakan (sacred). Then she told me who he was, and said from this day forth, do not give that name to your grandchildren. He gave his blood, sweat and tears for his people. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be here.” Some reports claim that Sitting Bull murdered Custer, but LaPointe said: “From the east to west, we had leaders who were compassionate.

The history books, religious books, they always said we were so war-like. But when we fought each other, we counted coup, it was an embarrassment to get hit. Ever since I been alive, the Americans have been at war. Now they are at war with terrorists,” LaPointe laughed, “They will never end that.” After Little Big Horn, Sitting Bull led his people to Canada where they stayed for four years until they were overcome by starvation. Ephriam Dickson, a historian with the National Museum of the U.S. Army, has spent years working with tribal historians to accumulate information about the wars. Several years ago, he found nearly all of the reservation census records of the late summer and early fall of 1881, just after Sitting Bull had surrendered and was brought in as a prisoner of war. “Included in the records was a speech by Sitting Bull that granted permission for this census to be taken,” Dickson said. For the last few years I have been in the North, where there are plenty of buffalo, for the buffalo were my means of living. God made me to live on the flesh of the buffalo, so I thought I would stay out there as long as there were buffalo enough for us.

But the Great Father sent for me several times, and although I did not know why he wanted me to come down, at last I consented to do so. I never, myself, made war against the children of the Great Father, and I never sought a fight with them. While I was looking for buffalo, they would attack and shoot at me, and of course I had to defend myself or else I should die. But all the blame is put on me. I have always thought that the Dakotas were all one body, and I wanted to make an agreement with them to come and settle down. While I have been in the North, here and there, a good many things have happened, and I have been blamed for them; but I know that I am innocent. Sitting Bull gave his age at the time of that speech as 43 years old and the census showed there were 40 families in his band. Sitting Bull was allowed to return to his people at Standing Rock, but in 1890, as the Ghost Dance Movement began to sweep across Indian country, Sitting Bull was again blamed and arrested in fear of an uprising. History.com reports that Sitting Bull was woken up at 6 a.m.

by Indian police. A crowd gathered and as the young Lakota people taunted the police, a shot was fired hitting an officer. In response, Sitting Bull was shot twice—once in the chest and once in the head. RELATED: This Date in History: Indian Agent Involved in Death of Sitting Bull Dies “We remember him here in everything and everywhere,” Allard said. “We do our best to remember this great man, this common man. He called himself a common man, which is the greatest man of all.” “After all these years, we still quote his words, we still remind the children, we still see his descendants here,” Allard said. “We haven’t ever had a tribal council without a descendent of Sitting Bull. He left us with a legacy, and because of him we still know who we are. Is that not amazing?” Biography for Kids: Sitting Bull Occupation: Chief of the Lakota Sioux Indians Born: c.

1831 in Grand River, South Dakota Died: December 15, 1890 in Grand River, South Dakota Best known for: Leading his people to victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn Biography: Early Life Sitting Bull was born a member of the Lakota Sioux tribe in South Dakota . The land where he was born was called Many-Caches by his people. His father was a fierce warrior named Jumping Bull. His father named him "Slow" because he was always very careful and slow to take action. Slow grew up as a typical child in the Sioux tribe. He learned how to ride horses, shoot a bow, and hunt buffalo . He dreamt of one day becoming a great warrior. When Slow was ten years old he killed his first buffalo. When he was fourteen, Slow joined his first war party. In a battle with the Crow tribe, Slow bravely charged a warrior and knocked him down. When the party returned to camp, his father gave him the name Sitting Bull in honor of his bravery. Becoming a Leader As Sitting Bull grew older, white men from the United States began to enter his people's land. More and more of them came each year.

Sitting Bull became a leader among his people and was famous for his bravery. He hoped for peace with the white man, but they would not leave his land. War Leader Around 1863, Sitting Bull began to take up arms against the Americans. He hoped to scare them off, but they kept returning. In 1868, he supported Red Cloud in his war against many of the American Forts in the area. When Red Cloud signed a treaty with the United States, Sitting Bull did not agree. He refused to sign any treaties. By 1869 Sitting Bull was considered the Supreme Chief of the Lakota Sioux Nation . In 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The United States wanted access to the gold and didn't want interference from the Sioux. They ordered all Sioux that lived outside the Sioux Reservation to move inside the reservation. Sitting Bull refused. He felt that reservations were like prisons and he would not be "shut up in a corral." Gathering His People As the United States forces began to hunt down Sioux that lived outside the reservation, Sitting Bull formed a war camp.

Many other Sioux joined him as well as Indians from other tribes such as the Cheyenne and the Arapaho. Soon his camp became quite large with perhaps 10,000 people living there. Battle of Little Big Horn Sitting Bull was also considered a holy man within his tribe. He performed a Sun Dance ritual where he saw a vision. In that vision he pictured "American soldiers dropping like grasshoppers from the sky". He said that a great battle was coming and his people would win. Shortly after Sitting Bull's vision, Colonel George Custer of the United States Army discovered the Indian war camp. On June 25, 1876 Custer attacked. However, Custer didn't realize the size of Sitting Bull's army. The Indians soundly defeated Custer's forces, killing many of them including Custer. This battle is considered one of the great victories for the Native Americans in the fight against the United States Army. After the Battle Although the Battle of Little Big Horn was a great victory, soon more United States troops arrived in South Dakota. Sitting Bull's army had split up and soon he was forced to retreat to Canada. In 1881, Sitting Bull returned and surrendered to the United States.

He would now live in a reservation. Death In 1890, the local Indian Agency police feared that Sitting Bull was planning to flee the reservation in support of a religious group called the Ghost Dancers. They went to arrest him. A gunfight occurred between the police and Sitting Bull's supporters. Sitting Bull was killed in the fight. Interesting Facts about Sitting Bull He worked for a time in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show earning $50 a week. He once said that he "would rather die an Indian than live as a white man." The Ghost Dancers believed that God would make the white people leave and the buffalo return to the land. The religion ended when many of the members were killed at the Wounded Knee Massacre. His birth name was Jumping Badger. He was friends with other famous people from the old west including Annie Oakley and Crazy Horse. For more Native American History: Culture and Overview Sitting Bull Blog Sitting Bull Sitting Bull was a medicine man, or holy man, of the Hunkpapa Lakota (Sioux), who were being driven from their land in the Black Hills. He took up arms against the white man, refusing to be transported to the Indian Territory.

Under his leadership as a war chief, the Lakota tribes united in their struggle for survival on the northern plains. Birth, childhood, and early career Sitting Bull was born on the Grand River in present-day South Dakota in 1831. His father bore the name Sitting Bull, and his mother was named Her-Holy-Door. When he was born, his parents named him Jumping Badger. As a little boy, Jumping Badger, there was nothing remarkable to set him apart from other children of his tribe. His nickname was Hunkesi, meaning, "Slow," because he never hurried and did everything with care. At an early age, however, the boy distinguished himself as a leader. On his first hunt at the age of 10, Jumping Badger killed his first buffalo. He gave the meat away to elders who were unable to hunt for themselves. Following the hunt, Jumping Badger set out on his first vision quest. When the lad was just 14, his father gave him a coup stick, a slender wand with which he could gain prestige by touching or striking an enemy in battle. He joined his first war party against the Crow, anxious for a chance to prove himself at that tender age.

Jumping Badger struck his first Crow warrior with his coup stick, thus earning a coveted measure of bravery in combat. His father was so filled with pride at his son's early victory, that he gave the name Sitting Bull (Tatanka-Iyotanka) to his son as part of the ceremonies celebrating his elevation to warrior status. His new name suggested a stubborn buffalo bull planted unmovable on his haunches. The Indians thought of the buffalo as a headstrong, stubborn creature that was afraid of nothing, a creature that had great endurance, courage and strength. Those were fighting virtues that people saw in Sitting Bull. Promising maturity As a young man, Sitting Bull successfully increased Sioux hunting grounds. By the age of 25, he was the leader of the Strong Heart Warrior Society and later, a distinguished member of the Silent Eaters, a group concerned with tribal welfare. Soon, Sitting Bull became known for his fearlessness in battle. He also was generous and wise, virtues admired by his tribe. As young Sitting Bull matured into adulthood, he accumulated an exceptional war record in fighting with Assiniboins, Crows, Flatheads, Blackfeet, and other enemy tribes.

That led, in 1857, to his designation as a tribal war chief. At the same time, Sitting Bull mastered the sacred Lakota mysteries. He became as shaman and medicine man, and rose to eminence as a holy man. Wives and children Sitting Bull had at least three wives, and possibly as many as five over the years. His first two wives died. His last two wives, ï¿½Four Robes" and ï¿½Seen-by-the-Nation," gave him many children. In his later years, Sitting Bull's most favored children were a son named Crow Foot and a daughter named Standing Holy. Although a Crow warrior had killed Sitting Bullï¿½s father in 1859, his mother was a powerful presence in his teepee until her death in 1884. Later career From 1863 to 1868, the U.S. Army continually invaded Lakota territory, especially their hunting grounds, which created problems for the native economy. The Lakota fought the army's encroachment.

Sitting Bull experienced his first encounter with American soldiers in June 1863, when the army mounted a broad campaign in retaliation for the Santee Rebellion in Minnesota , in which Sitting Bull's people had played no part. The next year, Sitting Bull fought U.S. troops again, at the Battle of Killdeer Mountain. In 1865, he led a siege against the newly established Fort Rice in present-day North Dakota . Widely respected for his bravery and insight, he became the first principal chief of the entire Lakota Sioux nation in 1868. Although other tribal chiefs attended the peace conference of 1868, to sign the Fort Laramie treaty ï¿½ declaring peace and the end to their free, nomadic sovereignty ï¿½ Sitting Bull refused to attend. The stage was set for war between Sitting Bull and the U.S. Army in 1874, when an expedition led by General George A Custer confirmed that gold had been discovered in the Black Hills of Dakota Territory. That was an area sacred to many tribes and placed off-limits to white settlement by the Fort Laramie Treaty. Despite the ban, prospectors began a rush to the Black Hills.

By 1875, more than a thousand prospectors were camping there. When government efforts to purchase the Black Hills failed, the Fort Laramie Treaty was set aside and the commissioner of Indian affairs decreed that all Lakota not settled on reservations by January 31, 1876, would be considered hostile ï¿½ provoking the Lakota to defend their land. Sitting Bull and his people held their ground. In March, as three columns of federal troops under General George Crook, General Alfred Howe Terry, and Colonel John Gibbon, moved into the area, Sitting Bull and the Lakota realized they could not defeat the army alone, that they must stand with other tribes. Sitting Bull summoned other Lakota bands, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, to his camp on Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory. Battle of the Rosebud Sitting Bull performed an important religious ritual, called the Sun Dance, a type of self-sacrifice that could include a loss of consciousness. He offered prayers to Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, then slashed his arms 100 times as a sign of sacrifice, while in a trance.

When Sitting Bull emerged from his trance, he told of his vision of soldiers falling from the sky. Inspired by Sitting Bull's vision, the Oglala Lakota war chief, Chief Crazy Horse , set out for battle with a band of 500 warriors, and on June 17, 1876, he surprised Crook's troops and forced them to retreat at the Battle of the Rosebud . Following the battle, they set up camp at Little Bighorn, where they were joined by 3,000 more Indians who had left the reservations to follow Sitting Bull. Battle of the Little Big Horn Although Sitting Bull was the principal chief among the Lakota Sioux, he did not personally participate in the Battle of the Little Big Horn . On June 25, Lt. Colonel George A. Custer and the soldiers under his command first rushed the encampment along the Little Big Horn River, as if in fulfillment of Sitting Bull's vision. They then made a stand on a nearby ridge, where by the end of the day, Custer and his column of more than 200 soldiers were dead.

That military defeat brought thousands more cavalrymen to the area, and over the next year, they ruthlessly persecuted the Lakota ï¿½ who had split up following the Custer fight ï¿½ forcing chief after chief to surrender. As the battles continued, many of Sitting Bull's followers surrendered. However, the old chief defiantly would not capitulate. In May 1877, he led his band across the border into Canada, beyond the reach of the U.S. Army. When General Terry traveled north to offer him a pardon in exchange for settling on a reservation, Sitting Bull angrily sent him away. Four years later, however, finding it impossible to feed his people in a world where the buffalo was almost extinct, Sitting Bull finally came south to surrender. On July 19, 1881, he had his young son, Crow Foot, hand over his rifle to the commanding officer of Fort Buford in Montana, explaining that in this way he hoped to teach the boy that he had become a friend of the whites. Latter days For his people, Sitting Bull asked for the right to cross back and forth into Canada whenever he wished, and for a reservation of his own on the Little Missouri River near the Black Hills.

Instead, he was sent to Standing Rock Reservation. When his presence there raised fears that he might inspire a fresh uprising, Sitting Bull was sent farther down the Missouri River to Fort Randall. He was held as a prisoner of war there for two years, before he was sent to join other Lakota at the Standing Rock Agency in North Dakota. The Indian agent in charge of the reservation was determined to deny the great chief any respect, even forcing him to do manual labor in the fields. Sitting Bull still knew his own authority, and when a delegation of U.S. Senators came to discuss opening part of the reservation to white settlers, he spoke forcefully, though futilely, against their plan. In 1885, Sitting Bull was allowed to leave the reservation to join Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. He toured the United States, Canada, and Europe, earning $50 a week for riding once around the arena, in addition to whatever he could charge for his autograph and picture. He stayed with the show only four months, unable to tolerate white society any longer. During his adventures in the white man's world, he witnessed numerous things. White society and their version of civilization did not impress Tatanka Iyotaka.

He was shocked and saddened to see the number of homeless people living on the streets of American cities. He gave money to hungry white people many times when he was in the large cities. In that time, he shook hands with President Grover Cleveland , which he took as evidence that he was still regarded as a great chief. Back to Standing Rock Returning to Standing Rock, Sitting Bull lived in a cabin on the Grand River, near where he had been born. He refused to give up his old ways as the reservation's rules required, still living with two wives and rejecting Christianity. He remained defiant toward American military power and contemptuous of American promises to the end. He sent his children to a nearby Christian school in the belief that the next generation of Lakota would need to be able to read and write. Soon after his return, Sitting Bull experienced another mystical vision. This time he saw a meadowlark alight on a hillock beside him, and heard it say, "Your own people, Lakotas, will kill you." Sitting Bull remained an influential force among his people. He counseled the tribal chiefs, who greatly valued his wisdom, and tried to influence his tribe to refuse to relinquish Indian lands.

He counseled his people to be wary of what they accepted from white culture. He saw some things that might benefit his people, but cautioned them to accept only those things that were useful, and leave everything else alone. Sitting Bull's last years found him in the familiar stance of opposing government aims. He battled the land agreements of 1888 and 1889, which threw half the Great Sioux (Lakota) Reservation open to white settlement and divided the rest into six separate reservations. Shortly after his return, the federal government again wanted to break up the tribal lands. They persuaded several "government-appointed chiefs" to sign an agreement, whereby the reservation was to be divided up and subsequently distributed among the tribal members. Missing from the list of recipients was Sitting Bull's name. The death of a great warrior In the fall of 1890, a Miniconjou Lakota named Kicking Bear came to Sitting Bull with news of the Ghost Dance , a ceremony that promised to rid the land of white people and restore the Indians' way of life. Sitting Bull was leery of the Ghost Dance, but let his people believe what they wanted.

Although he himself was not a follower, his people's involvement was perceived as a threat by the American government that the movement was becoming more militaristic and might erupt into rebellion. The federal agencies sent extra troops to the reservations. At Standing Rock, the authorities feared that Sitting Bull, still revered as a spiritual leader, would join the Ghost dancers. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agent in charge of the Lakotas sent the tribal police to arrest Sitting Bull, to force him to stop the dance. They dispatched 43 Lakota policemen to bring him in. Before dawn on December 15, 1890, the policemen burst into Sitting Bull's cabin and dragged him outside. When the chief resisted, one of the Lakota policemen put a bullet through his head. Crow Foot also was slain. Sitting Bull was buried at Fort Yates in North Dakota, and in 1953, his remains were moved to Mobridge, South Dakota. Sitting Bull's legacy Today Sitting Bull is remembered as one of the greatest of all Indian leaders, a man of power and renown among his own people, an uncompromising foe of white encroachments on his land and his way of life.

His rocklike dedication to the principles that ordered his life ensured failure in the great purpose he set for himself, but also awarded him stature as one of American history's greatest patriots. He is remembered among the Lakota not only as an inspirational leader and fearless warrior but as a loving father, a gifted singer, a man always affable and friendly toward others, whose deep religious faith gave him prophetic insight and lent special power to his prayers. - - - Books You May Like Include: ---- Wounded Knee | hamlet, South Dakota, United States | Britannica.com hamlet, South Dakota, United States Written By: United States Wounded Knee, hamlet and creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota , U.S. It was the site of two conflicts between North American Indians and representatives of the U.S. government. On Dec. 29, 1890, more than 200 Sioux men, women, and children were massacred by U.S. troops in what has been called the Battle of Wounded Knee , an episode that concluded the conquest of the North American Indian.

Reaching out for some hope of salvation from hard conditions, such as semistarvation caused by reduction in the size of their reservation in the late 1880s, the Teton Sioux responded affirmatively to Wovoka , a Paiute prophet who promised the disappearance of the white man and a return of native lands and buffalo if certain rites and dances were performed. These rites, known as the Ghost Dance , caused alarm among whites and led to federal military intervention. The army subdued the Ghost Dance movement, but Chief Sitting Bull was killed by reservation police while being arrested (December 14), and a few hundred Sioux left their reservation at Pine Ridge, seeking to hide in the Badlands. Technically classified as hostiles because they had left the reservation, the Indians gathered around Chief Big Foot (byname of Chief Spotted Elk), who was dying of pneumonia. However, they surrendered quietly to pursuing troops of the 7th Cavalry on the night of December 28. Following an overnight encampment near Wounded Knee Creek, the Indians were surrounded and were nearly disarmed when a scuffle broke out over a young brave’s new rifle. A shot was fired from within the group of struggling men, and a trooper fell.

From close range the soldiers, supported by machine guns, fired into the Indians, whose only arms were the clubs and knives that they had hidden in blankets. Fleeing Indians were pursued, and some were killed miles from the camp. Although the number of Indian dead is unknown (the Indians removed some of the dead later), 144 Indians, including 44 women and 16 children, were buried in a mass grave the following spring when the weather permitted the army to return. About 30 soldiers were killed during the hostilities. Similar Topics Atrocities Against Native Americans - United to End Genocide Atrocities Against Native Americans Please leave this field empty Like & Follow We believe we must fulfill the promise the world made following the Holocaust: “Never Again!” Numerous atrocities against Native Americans span the hundreds of years from the first arrival of European explorers to the modern era under a wide range of circumstances. Today there are over 500 Native American tribes in the United States, each with a distinct culture, way of life and history. Even today, Native Americans face large challenges to cope with the disadvantages history has left them and ongoing cases of discrimination.

10 million+ Estimated number of Native Americans living in land that is now the United States when European explorers first arrived in the 15th century Less than 300,000 Estimated number of Native Americans living in the United States around 1900 5.2 million identified as American Indian or Alaska Native in the 2010 census A History of Atrocities An estimated 12,000 years ago, a mass migration of nomadic peoples, traveled across a land bridge that connected Asia to what is now Alaska. These people would come to be called Native Americans, numbering over 50 million, and settling from the top of North America to the bottom of South America. By the time Christopher Columbus reached the Caribbean in 1492, historians estimate that there were 10 million indigenous peoples living in U.S. territory. But by 1900, the number had reduced to less than 300,000. European expansion into North America – whether to find gold, escape religious persecution or start a new life – led to the destruction of Native American livelihoods. Disease was a major killer, followed by malnutrition.

Colonists in search of gold staged violent ambushes on tribal villages, fueling animosity with Natives. Several wars broke out between tribes and American settlers which led to large death tolls , land dispossession, oppression and blatant racism. Unlike the U.S. Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s, which led to blanket legal reform, Native Americans gained civil and legal rights piece by piece. In 1924, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act, giving Native Americans a ‘dual citizenship’ – they were citizens of their sovereign native land as well as the United States. Native Americans gained uniform voting rights in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But it wasn’t until 1968, when the Indian Civil Rights Act was passed, that Natives gained the right to free speech, the right to a jury and protection from unreasonable search and seizure. Colonization While the Native Americans’ history began thousands of years ago, their European encounter started with one man. Determined to find a direct route from Europe to Asia, Christopher Columbus stumbled on the Americas in 1492.

Columbus called the first people he met ‘Indians’ because he assumed he had been sailing in the Indian Ocean. But in actuality, this land had already been discovered – millions of Natives had occupied the Western Hemisphere for hundreds of years. Ultimately, while Columbus is remembered as a daring adventurer, he was also a perpetrator of atrocities and his legacy is viewed as the starting point that sparked hundreds of years of exploration and exploitation of the Americas. Disease The most significant reason for Natives decline was disease – an invisible killer that wiped out an estimated 90% of the population . Unlike the Europeans and Asians, whose lifestyle had a long history of sharing close quarters with domesticated animals, Native Americans were not immune to pathogens spread by domesticated cows, pigs, sheep, goats, and horses. As a result, millions were killed by measles, influenza, whooping cough, diphtheria, typhus, bubonic plague, cholera, scarlet fever and syphilis. Spreading disease was not always intentional on the part of the colonists. But there were a few instances that confirm Europeans’ attempt to exterminate natives. In 1763, a particularly serious uprising threatened British garrisons in Pennsylvania.

Worried about limited resources, and driven by atrocities committed by some Native Americans , Sir Jeffrey Amherst, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, wrote to Colonel Henry Bouquet at Fort Pitt: “You will do well to try to inoculate the Indians [with smallpox] by means of blankets, as well as to try every other method, that can serve to extirpate this execrable race.” Consequently, settlers spread smallpox to the Native Americans by distributing blankets previously owned by contagious patients. Violent Conflicts Cultural clashes between European settlers and Natives lasted for over four hundred years – small battles, large scale wars and forced labor systems on large estates, also known as encomiendas – took a large toll on the Native population. Throughout the Northeast, proclamations to create ‘redskins’, or scalps of Native Americans, were common during war and peace times.

According to the 1775 Phips Proclamation in Massachusetts, King George II of Britain called for “subjects to embrace all opportunities of pursuing, captivating, killing and destroying all and every of the aforesaid Indians.” Colonists were paid for each Penobscot Native they killed – fifty pounds for adult male scalps, twenty-five for adult female scalps, and twenty for scalps of boys and girls under age twelve. These proclamations explicitly display the settlers’ “intent to kill”, a major indicator of genocidal acts. U.S. History of Atrocities After the American Revolution, many Native American lives were already lost to disease and displacement. In 1830, the federal Indian Removal Act called for the removal of the ‘Five Civilized Tribes’ – the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole. Between 1830 and 1838, federal officials working on behalf of white cotton growers forced nearly 100,000 Indians out of their homeland.

The dangerous journey from the southern states to “Indian Territory” in current Oklahoma is referred to as the Trail of Tears in which 4,000 Cherokee people died of cold, hunger, and disease. As the United States expanded westward, violent conflicts over territory multiplied. In 1784, one British traveler noted : “White Americans have the most rancorous antipathy to the whole race of Indians; and nothing is more common than to hear them talk of extirpating them totally from the face of the earth, men, women, and children.” In particular, the 1848 California gold rush caused 300,000 people to migrate to San Francisco from the East Coast and South America. Historians believe that California was once the most densely and diversely populated area for Native Americans in U.S. territory; however, the gold rush had massive implications for Native American livelihoods. Toxic chemicals and gravel ruined traditional Native hunting and agricultural practices, resulting in starvation for many Natives.

Further, in 1850, the California state government passed the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians that addressed the punishment and protection of Native Americans, and helped to facilitate the removal of their culture and land . It also legalized slavery and was referenced for the buying and selling of Native children. “A war of extermination will continue to be waged between the two races until the Indian race becomes extinct.” – California Governor Peter H. Burnett, 1851 In 1890, Wounded Knee, located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in North Dakota, government officials believed chief Sitting Bull was a Ghost Dancer, someone who rejects “the ways of the white man” and believes that the gods will create a new world without non-believers. In the process of arresting Sitting Bull, federal officials actually ended up killing him, causing a massive rebellion that led to the deaths of over 150 Natives in Pine Ridge. Modern Atrocities Since the early 1900’s, advancements in Native American rights have been slow and piece-meal. At the turn of century, the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. federal government has the right to overturn all Cherokee laws in the precedent-setting decision Cherokee Nation v.

Hitchcock. But, in 1928, the Brookings Institute released the ‘Meriam Report’, which was one of the first in-depth analyses of reservation living conditions. The report went on to influence policy initiatives which improved healthcare, education, and land rights for Native Americans. This was a step forward for the protection of a minority who was still without voting rights. In 1949, however, the U.S. government took a step back towards 19th century bigotry, as the Hoover Commission urged the assimilation of the Natives, “The basis for historic Indian culture has been swept away. Traditional tribal organization was smashed a generation ago .… Assimilation must be the dominant goal of public policy.” One year later, using the same post-war idea that prevented “Little Tokyos” in the U.S., the Commissioner of Indian Affairs began to implement ‘withdrawal planning’, or the termination and relocation of thousands of Natives to cities. In 1978, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act which protects Native American children and the custody of their parents. Controversy has surrounded cases where state officials forcibly removed children from Native American families.

In Maine, the Maine Truth and Reconciliation Committee , for example, seeks to uncover and acknowledge the truth about what happened to Wabanaki children and families involved with the Maine child welfare system. These forcible removals are still happening today. South Dakota continues to remove children at a rate higher than the vast majority of other states in the country. Conclusion For hundreds of years a mixture of colonial conflict, disease, specific atrocities and policies of discrimination has devastated the Native American population. In the course of this time, it is estimated that over nine million Natives died from violent conflict or disease. For too long this history has been under-recognized and too little discussed. Join us & help end genocide Please leave this field empty 8100followers Speaking the Truth to Stop Racism Against Native Americans | Commentary Speaking the Truth to Stop Racism Against Native Americans | Commentary Posted Jun 2, 2015 10:19 AM By John Yellowbird Steele Save for later The United States’ historically racist Indian affairs policy cost Native Americans millions of lives and millions of acres of land. At a recent hearing, Rep. Norma J.

Torres, D-Calif., acknowledged the devastation wrought by the allotment policy on American-Indian nations and tribes. She is our new hero in Native American country. Don Young of Alaska, chairman of House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian, Insular Affairs and Alaska Natives, is a longtime friend of Indian country. Yet his staff committed an error in preparing for a hearing held on Native American land issues on May 14. Ominously, the hearing was titled, “Inadequate Standards for Trust Land Acquisition in the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.” In framing the issue, the staff relied on Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s dissent in South Dakota v. Department of Interior. In that case, South Dakota brought a constitutional law non-delegation doctrine challenge to Interior’s authority to acquire Indian trust land for Indians and tribes under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. After the 8th Circuit held for the state, Interior developed rules to allow for timely judicial review. The Supreme Court vacated and remanded the 8th Circuit decision, declining to hear the challenge. Scalia dissented. Reliance on Scalia’s dissent shines new light on the 8th Circuit decision in South Dakota v.

Interior, which was sitting in the dustbin of obscurity. Perhaps the staff did not realize the decision’s racist nature, where the 8th Circuit speculated the IRA “would permit the Secretary to purchase the Empire State Building in trust for a tribal chieftain as a wedding present.” The truth is the IRA offers Indian tribes a chance for restorative justice. It authorizes the secretary to restore some of the lands that were stolen from us, lands to make our tribes whole again. America’s wars against the Sioux Nation reflect its insatiable hunger for Indian lands. After Red Cloud fought to save the Powder River Country, the United States signed a treaty in 1868 pledging its “honor” to maintain peace so war could “forever cease” and our Lakota would have “absolute and undisturbed use” of our “permanent home,” the Great Sioux Reservation. While allowing allotment of land to individual Lakota families, the treaty prohibited land sales, unless three-quarters of adult men consented. In 1873, President Ulysses S. Grant said U.S. Indian policy must be “civilization,” or it would have to be “extermination,” while Grant’s closest friend, General William T.

Sherman, gave free ammunition to white hunters who slaughtered our buffalo for their hides. In 1876, the U.S. Army attacked the Lakota at Wolf Mountain, the Rosebud, the Little Big Horn and Slim Buttes. The goal was to steal our Black Hills (the biggest gold mine in the Western Hemisphere, 7 million acres and 14 percent of South Dakota). The Army assassinated Chief Lame Deer and Crazy Horse. Congress passed the Allotment Act in 1887. To make way for South Dakota statehood in 1889, the U.S. took 11 million acres from the Sioux Nation (22 percent of the state). Chief Sitting Bull stood against this theft. Statehood followed in November. The United States broke its promises again, cutting treaty food rations and starving our people after the slaughter of our buffalo. In 1890, the Standing Rock BIA agent ordered Sitting Bull arrested or killed. The BIA police shot him in the back and killed him. When the shooting started, the cavalry rode in.

Sitting Bull’s people fled to Chief Big Foot at Cheyenne River, who was on his way to negotiate with the BIA and tribal leaders at Pine Ridge. When Chief Big Foot and his people were stopped at Wounded Knee by the 7th Cavalry, they were surrounded, the men and large boys were lined in front of guns and cannons, disarmed and the 7th Cavalry massacred more than 300 men, women and children. That is the allotment policy. A committee memo refers to it as “humane.” Yet, the allotment policy was, is and always has been, an instrument of America’s genocide against Native Americans. Torres stood up for Native Americans when she said, “The United States’ Allotment Policy, which robbed sovereign tribal nations of their ancestral land, was and has always been racist and misguided. The allotment era was a disaster for Indian country and has caused Native Americans significant and lasting damage . . . the loss of 90 million acres of land . . . and untold historical trauma still being felt today.” She spoke the truth.

Sitting Bull killed by Indian police - Dec 15, 1890 - HISTORY.com Sitting Bull killed by Indian police Share this: Sitting Bull killed by Indian police Author Sitting Bull killed by Indian police URL Publisher A+E Networks After many years of successfully resisting white efforts to destroy him and the Sioux people, the great Sioux chief and holy man Sitting Bull is killed by Indian police at the Standing Rock reservation in South Dakota. One of the most famous Native Americans of the 19th century, Sitting Bull (Tatanka Iyotake) was a fierce enemy of Anglo-Americans from a young age. Deeply devoted to the traditional ways, Sitting Bull believed that contact with non-Indians undermined the strength and identity of the Sioux and would lead to their ultimate decline. However, Sitting Bull’s tactics were generally more defensive than aggressive, especially as he grew older and became a Sioux leader. Fundamentally, Sitting Bull and those associated with his tribe wished only to be left alone to pursue their traditional ways, but the Anglo settlers’ growing interest in the land and the resulting confinement of Indians to government-controlled reservations inevitably led to conflicts.

Sitting Bull’s refusal to follow an 1875 order to bring his people to the Sioux reservation directly led to the famous Battle of the Little Bighorn, during which the Sioux and Cheyenne wiped out five troops of Custer’s 7th Cavalry. After the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull and his followers fled to Canada for four years. Faced with mass starvation among his people, Sitting Bull finally returned to the United States and surrendered in 1883. Sitting Bull was assigned to the Standing Rock reservation in present-day South Dakota, where he maintained considerable power despite the best efforts of the Indian bureau agents to undermine his influence. When the apocalyptic spiritual revival movement known as the Ghost Dance began to grow in popularity among the Sioux in 1890, Indian agents feared it might lead to an Indian uprising. Wrongly believing that Sitting Bull was the driving force behind the Ghost Dance, agent James McLaughlin sent Indian police to arrest the chief at his small cabin on the Grand River. The Indian police rousted the naked chief from his bed at 6:00 in the morning, hoping to spirit him away before his guards and neighbors knew what had happened.

When the fifty-nine-year-old chief refused to go quietly, a crowd gathered and a few hotheaded young men threatened the Indian police. Someone fired a shot that hit one of the Indian police; they retaliated by shooting Sitting Bull in the chest and head. The great chief was killed instantly. Before the ensuing gunfight ended, twelve other Indians were dead and three were wounded. The man who had nobly resisted the encroachment of whites and their culture for nearly three decades was buried in a far corner of the post cemetery at Fort Yates. Two weeks later, the army brutally suppressed the Ghost Dance movement with the massacre of a band of Sioux at Wounded Knee, the final act in the long and tragic history of the American war against the Plains Indians. Related Videos

Question: In which US state was native American chief Sitting Bull killed?
Answer: South Dakota